Sheep Mountain, Kluane Lake, Yukon Territory

This is a painting of the wild and wonderful Kluane Lake, with Sheep Mountain in the background.  The reference to “sheep” refers to the surefooted Dhal sheep, often seen clambering along the cliff face.

This is the exact site where we artists often gathered to paint and sketch.  It was on one extremely chilly and windy day in late August that Tania O’Donnell and I were on that beach, bravely trying to fight the Yukon elements and attempting to paint.  We eventually gave up temporarily and abandoned our gear to head to the main building for a hot coffee and a warm-up of our freezing cold hands.

As we single-filed our way up the narrow trail, suddenly through the roar of the wind in the dense bush I heard Tania holler “BEAR!!!”  And there, rising on hind legs and giving a startled “woof” was a medium-tall and very large animal, the closest I ever want to come to a grizzly bear.

We startled the bear as much as he startled us (he was merely enjoying a leisurely breakfast of buffalo berries).  Luckily for us, he turned out to be a “good bear”, and after his threatening rise to this human interference that bear made a hasty retreat through the thick underbrush to the safety of the forest beyond.

It was a fearful experience.  We’d been well warned of the perils involving grizzlies in the Yukon.  We’d heard many tales of grizzly bear encounters where the humans did not fare well.  And we were aware that the grizzly bear population in the Yukon equals one bear to every six to eight people.  Fact Checked as of July 1, 2024.